Exclusive:Dame Andrea Jenkyns admits mistakenly uploading 'endorsement' webpage including stock photo of fake US Senator
The former Tory MP for Morley and Outwood defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK last week, and will run as the party’s mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire.
Her campaign page - Andrea4Mayor.co.uk - initially had an endorsements page, with a number of photos of what appeared to be stock photos.
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Hide AdDame Andrea told The Yorkshire Post that this was meant to be a template website, and should not have been published.
The “endorsements” included a woman named Christine York, who was listed as a US Senator.


There is not a US Senator of that name, and the photo appears on 16 different websites including one advertising a virtual office assistant.
A second endorsement was listed from Michael Levin, titled “district leader”.
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Hide AdThere is a US politician named Mike Levin, however this is a different person.
The photograph appears to originate from the photo archive Shutterstock.


Four other photos, all of which appeared to be stock images, were listed as endorsements on Dame Andrea’s website, including from Tracy Fox, who was described as an actress and an activist.
The page was live for more than four days since her defection, but has now been taken down.
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Hide AdDame Andrea told The Yorkshire Post: “This is a template website that I quickly put together myself as soon as I had been selected - that page shouldn’t have even been live.”


And speaking about her candidacy, the former West Yorkshire MP said she would bring a “common sense approach” to politics in Greater Lincolnshire, ensuring “every penny of taxpayers’ money is a penny well spent”.
“That’s going to be the key thing,” she added, “looking at infrastructure projects, inward investment and the skills agenda because I was the Skills Minister.”
Melanie Onn, the Labour MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, said the website issues showed “what little respect she [Ms Jenkyns] has for Lincolnshire and its residents”.
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Hide AdThe Greater Lincolnshire mayoral race next May will give Reform UK a great chance to get a foothold in local government.
The party’s deputy leader Richard Tice is the MP for Boston and Skegness.
Dame Andrea was a staunch supporter of Brexit and Boris Johnson, and became notable for swearing at people protesting ahead of Mr Johnson’s resignation.
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